St. Mary's Dylan Wu takes early lead in District 6 tournament

Tuesday

May 8, 2012 at 12:30 AMMay 8, 2012 at 12:31 AM

In what should come as no surprise, Dylan Wu of St. Mary's and Kevin Murphy of Rogue River set the stage for quite a finish in the District 6 boys golf championships with their stellar play Monday at Rogue Valley Country Club.

In what should come as no surprise, Dylan Wu of St. Mary's and Kevin Murphy of Rogue River set the stage for quite a finish in the District 6 boys golf championships with their stellar play Monday at Rogue Valley Country Club.

In the first of two rounds at the district tournament, Wu carded a 1-over-par 73 and Murphy was two shots back at 75. Both have been elite players on the junior circuit for quite some time and will get a run for their money in today's final round at RVCC thanks to a crowded leaderboard that has three golfers within four shots of Wu.

Fellow Crusaders Will Street (76) and Tom Thorndike (77) are also nipping on Wu's heels for individual medalist honors. Buoyed by such solid opening-round scores, St. Mary's is well in control for the team title with a combined total of 309 — 31 strokes ahead of runner-up Rogue River.

Despite a double-bogey on the par-5 eighth hole, Wu held steady on Monday and immediately responded with a birdie — one of three in his round — to gain his early advantage.

SKYLINE DISTRICT — At Klamath Falls, North Valley senior Ryan Melnychuk shot a blistering 69 to take the individual lead during first-day play at the Skyline Conference district tournament at Shield Crest Golf Course.

Hidden Valley's Austin Johnson finished eight shots back of Melnychuk with a 77, with Phoenix's Travis Campoy standing in a tie for third with an 81.

The Knights lead the team race by 15 strokes over Klamath Union.

Play resumes today to decide which teams and individuals advance to the Class 4A state tournament.

SWC DISTRICT — At Roseburg, South Medford's Christina Phelps and Morgan Mahaffie of Grants Pass carded the lowest scores among the local players during first-round play at the Southwest Conference district tournament at Roseburg Country Club.

Phelps and Mahaffie each carded an 88, 11 shots off the pace of individual leader Haleigh Krause of Sheldon. The Irish also hold the team lead at 344, three strokes ahead of Roseburg.

DISTRICT 6 TOURNEY — Cascade Christian's Monique Kaldunski fired an 89 to sport the top local score after first-day action at the District 6 district tournament but she's well off the pace set by Henley sisters Kaitlin and Kylie Collom, who each carded a 75 at Centennial Golf Club.

North Valley leads St. Mary's in the team competition by 12 strokes heading into today's final round, with Jordan Rothfus pacing the Crusaders with a 99.

Each player who advances to the semifinal round also automatically qualifies for the Class 5A state championships.

MIDWESTERN DISTRICT — At Ashland, Ashland locked up three berths in the Class 5A state championships during play at the Midwestern League district tournament at Hunter Park.

The Grizzlies advanced two singles players and a doubles squad to Friday's semifinals, which will be played at Eugene Swim & Tennis Club. Those who won their quarterfinal matches clinched state berths.

State competition will take place at Portland Tennis Center and Tualatin Hills Tennis Center May 17-19.

In singles play, second-seeded River Davis — who advanced to last year's 5A state semifinals as Greenberg's doubles partner — cruised to the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against North Eugene's Megan Temple in the quarterfinals. Davis will play Churchill's Nicole Adkisson in the semifinals.

Unseeded freshman Ashley Knecht pieced together three straight wins to punch her ticket to state. She beat Marist's Madeline Balderston, 7-5, 6-0 in the quarterfinals to set up a semifinal date with Churchill's Marilyn Walker.

Ashland partners Katy Barnard and Halie Haynes and Jennifer Fine and Elana Cooper picked up a pair of wins, as did singles players Anne Kim and Nikole Maldonado Leon.